East provided a madrigal to The Triumphs of Oriana (1601), and took the B.Mus. at Cambridge in 1606 after which he perhaps served the Hatton family in London. He was a lay clerk at Ely Cathedral from 1609 until 1614, and then became Master of the Choristers at Lichfield Cathedral by 1618.

He composed an anthem for St. John's College, Oxford in 1620 and his seven publications consist of: two madrigal books (1604 and 1606); two varied collections of madrigals, consort songs, and anthems, the earlier print also containing a series of viol fancies (1610, 1618); two books exclusively for viol (1618-38); and a collection of anthems and consort songs.